hundreds of dead undersize whiting

[jstock]

Why is it that the Government is spending millions of tax payers dollars trying to protect Australian waters from international fishermen like the Indonesions when they cant even regulate our own fishing industry. too little too late.you can bet the clean up wont be funded by the fishing industry.

[choppa]

hey no need for the disclaimer troy,,,,,,last week they had their heads in a bucket over the storm damage to the beach fronts and what $ would be lost to the tourism traffic,,,,,, the week before it was some c**p about talcum powder turning up in their mail boxes,,,whats the bet that the 20 cents worth of my opinion i gave to sandy ( hi darl) from the local rag wont even get published tomorrow,,,,,

a fellow colleague gave a bit of insight,,,, we blame everything and everyone for this carnage,,,except for the fish,,,,if only they knew better

[waldo35]

do a search in dpi guys and see wot work has been done by fisheries to adress bycatch reduction. and james if u worked on trawlers yrs ago it would have been pre tutle excluders bycatch reduction devices net size reductions seasonal closures and nursery/sensitive area closures. please dont try to comment on a fishing fleet u no longer have any idea of what it really is. i fished the gulf 4 20 years and watched all of these things come in and be worked on by fishermen long b4 they were a legislated requiremnt. we have been working on sustainability issues for well over 10 yrs. im not saying that the work is done it is a constant dialouge with the environment. i am myself trialling a new bycatch device this week and i hope i can show sum real further gains in bycatch reduction. to paint us all as uncaring greedy 'ocean rapist' is a real slap in the face to all of the many people who have worked and are working very hard to address our sustainability issues.
try and find the fisheries assesment of 2004 and i quote it again' aside from such abiotic factors such as rainfall moreton bay is primarily a sustainable fishery' [ talkin otter trawl].

[lee8sec]

If this carnage happens NOW with by-catch measures in place just imagine what the damage has been for the last 30 plus years? This isn't just Qld either, its all the river systems & coastal/beach areas where this type of pro fishing is done. Time has come for ALL the state fisheries bodies to act & stop pretending all is ok, obviously it isn't. The pros have a case to be allowed to make a living out of fishing but the total cost of damage needs to be taken into consideration on HOW, WHERE & WHEN they are allowed to fish. Leigh

[Derek_Bullock]

I flew into Brisbane for a few days last week and one thing I had to do was have a feed of good Queensland prawns so headed down to Sammies Girl (what used to be Sams Seafoods) and bought three kilos of the best they had.

In that I guess I am no different to many of you reading this and posting to it, whether it be Sammies Girl or any other seafood outlet.

If we do what many are recommending and stop prawn trawling altogether then where are we going to get our prawns from ...... some highly polluted rice paddie in Vietnam where they are fed on human excreta ? ? ?

I am with Waldo on this one. #The DPI is and has been working with pro fishers for many years in reducing by-catch.

As for me, I'll still head down to Sammies Girl to get me a feed of good Queensland prawns when ever I can.

It's when I can't that I will be screaming blue murder.


Derek

[timbacutta]

Independent Trawlers Association president Vicki Burnett said since 2001 the trawlers, by law, had to return any by-catch other than the prawns, crabs and bugs.

“The whiting killed are trawl whiting – they are not the same whiting people catch from the beach,” she said.

Trawl whiting, must be the new Trawl Industry name for winter whiting. Just because they are not caught off the beach where they washed up, they are more more than likely going to end up in Mortean Bay where the average fisho justs wants to catch a feed.

For this industry representative to dismiss them as just trawl whiting, not as a vaulable part of the recreational fishing catch just goes to show why many amateur fishos had such a low regard towards Commerical Fishermen.

[Jono_SS]

Bundylundy

I think the majority of dead whiting were "Sillago robusta", which are called trawl whiting or stout whiting.
Winter whiting are "Sillago maculata".

therefore, they are 2 different species and no matter how long they were allowed to live, they would not have grown into the whiting we catch in Moreton Bay, Pumicestone Passage or any other estuary.

[Jono_SS]

....so I gues that means the title of the article is wrong...if they were Sillago robusta or Sillago maculata, they were "undersized" - they were just "small".

the phrase "never let the facts get in the way of a good story" springs to mind.

[Big_unit]

I flew into Brisbane for a few days last week and one thing I had to do was have a feed of good Queensland prawns so headed down to Sammies Girl (what used to be Sams Seafoods) and bought three kilos of the best they had.

In that I guess I am no different to many of you reading this and posting to it, whether it be Sammies Girl or any other seafood outlet.

If we do what many are recommending and stop prawn trawling altogether then where are we going to get our prawns from ...... some highly polluted rice paddie in Vietnam where they are fed on human excreta ? ? ?

I am with Waldo on this one. #The DPI is and has been working with pro fishers for many years in reducing by-catch.

As for me, I'll still head down to Sammies Girl to get me a feed of good Queensland prawns when ever I can.

It's when I can't that I will be screaming blue murder.


Derek

Derek,
# # You seem to be actively making certain that all and sundry are aware of the latest news and you seem to campaign for rec fishing to be saved. Why have you done a huge backflip with the above post ? It appears that as long as you can buy local seafood then there isnt a problem. The DPI&F are a bunch of text book reading fools that believe who ever they want too if it suits their purpose. Trawler operators just rape the waterways, but hey who cares as long as you can buy prawns whenever you want. Its that same greedy pathetic attitude that will cost us one of Australias best loved sports.

> >

James

[Derek_Bullock]

James

It is all about sustainable fisheries for both professional and recreational fishers based on sound scientific evidence, not the garbage and unscientific rhetoric spouted by politicians and greens/conservationists.

Have you said the same about the Chair of the Fishing Party Qld who owns a seafood business in the Whitsundays and only deals in Australian seafood. (His words on here)

Like I said - sustainable fisheries for all.

So no I havent done a backflip as you suggest.

Cheers.


Derek

[Big_unit]

This is officially a waste of time now.

Cheers
James

[Derek_Bullock]

What do you mean by that James ? ? ?


Derek

[jstock]

derek the definition of sustainable is Capable of being sustained it dosnt take much insight to realize that far from being sustained numbers being caught have significantly reduced over the last decade. why do u think we are now importing more and more fish every year.



University of Canberra Professor Bob Kearney is a world expert on fisheries, advising the federal government on threatened species.

"Around the world, the world is running out of fish. Australia is not the only one whose catches have levelled off, it's levelled off worldwide since about 1988, so the whole world is now looking for…the whole developed world is looking for imports and the developing world is looking for exports and a way to feed their people so it is a real dilemma," he said.

Professor Kearney has just co-authored a pulling net in report with the CSIRO, which predicts Australia will have a million tonne shortfall of seafood by the year 2020.

[Derek_Bullock]

Hi Jstock, thats a very apt part quote from a very good report on the Landline Program.

Oh yes, Professor Kearney the advisor to Government. One of the advisors no doubt who are advocating up to 33% closures of your and my good fishing spots. Based on very unsound scientific information.

I suggest you read the rest of that report that you started to quote. It will tell you about sustainable fisheries from the professional fishers prospective. That's something the good Professor doesnt want.


Derek

[Derek_Bullock]

derek the definition of sustainable is Capable of being sustained it dosnt take much insight to realize that far from being sustained numbers being caught have significantly reduced over the last decade. why do u think we are now importing more and more fish every year.

Jstock

Simple but true answer to that. Because it's cheaper.

Are you aware that whole fish caught in Queensland is being sent to the Asian Markets, processed and then sent back to Queensland as fillets. #Want to know why? #Because once again it is cheaper than getting it done in Queensland. Imagine that, the costs of freight to and from Asia is cheaper that Aussies filleting the stuff here.

Want to know how much Basa (freshwater mekong catfish) fillets we import into Australia from Vietnam a year? #Around 7000 tonnes last year. #Want to know why? Because once again it is cheaper than local, in some cases up to a quarter of the price, fish. #Basa is currently the biggest selling fish on the Australian market. #Do you know that around 400,000 Vietnamese are involved in the Basa fishery. They produces more fillets than Australia’s total seafood production of around 550,000 tonnes a year.

I could give you heaps more examples why we are importing fish BUT LET ME TELL YOU, IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SUSTAINABLE FISHERIES, it's all about greedy people making more money.


Derek